Welcome to The Funvee Tailgate! Most of the teams who were supposed to win in Week 8 won, except for two. Houston dropped their second game to the Pony Express (SMU) and the other upset was epic. I was in attendance for Penn State’s comeback victory over Ohio State and wow, it was insane. I gotta hand it to you, PSU, that was fun. Because of the new security measures at Beaver Stadium, we went into the stadium early to beat the crowds. We were probably amongst the first 10,000 in and it was already lively. Then the students rolled in, the band started playing, and the team took the field. I don’t think I sat down once. My only knock was that the flow of people at halftime was non-existent. My friend and I got caught in the blob of people and stood still for about five minutes as people were pushing and pulling others without making any progress. Other than that, Happy Valley lived up to the hype and then some. Oh, what a night indeed. No trip this week so let’s fire up Week 9!

Weeknight Recap:

Virginia Tech returned to the Top 25 this week as they traveled to Heinz Field to faceoff with Pitt. The Panthers kept themselves in this one but it wasn’t enough to beat the Hokies as Virginia Tech controls its own destiny in the Coastal Division. Tech won 39-36 and should cruise through the rest of the season. The Hokies have Duke, Georgia Tech, and Virginia left on their ACC slate (a combined 2-8 in conference play) as well as a trip to South Bend to face a struggling Notre Dame squad. #22 Navy fell to South Florida (who should have great) Friday night. Navy dug themselves out of a 24-point hole in the fourth quarter but USF edged the Midshipmen to win 52-45. SVP beat me to this point but San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey rushed for 223 yards in last night’s win over Utah. Pumphrey moves to 5th on the All-Time NCAA Rushing List. Van Pelt is calling for Pumphrey to be in Heisman consideration. Not only do I agree, but I think the least the AP could do is vote SDSU into the Top 25 as to give them some of the spotlight. One loss to South Alabama shouldn’t tarnish that.

Big Games This Week:

The Two-Thirds Mark:

If they haven’t yet, schools around the country will be reaching the two-third mark on the season. November is when the real drama begins but this week will set the table for the final act. #5 Louisville, #9 Texas A&M, #13 Boise State, #16 Oklahoma, and #18 Tennessee are all massive favorites and should win. There are a couple other big favorites but are worth noting. Let’s get to the slate.

• #2 Michigan at Michigan State at noon on ESPN–the first massive favorite. This game is being advertised heavily because of the punt-incident last year. Harbaugh and company are 24-point road favorites and we’ve all seen how much Jim likes to run it up. Michigan wins big.
• #10 West Virginia at Oklahoma State at noon on FOX–The Mountaineers stroll into Stillwater as 3.5-point favorites. OKSt looks like an attractive home-dog but I’d negative dollars on this game if that were possible. The Mountaineers have the skills to get this done, WVU wins.
• #24 Penn State at Purdue at noon on ABC–PSU is ranked for the first time since the Sandusky scandal and they should remain ranked as they’re a two-touchdown favorite at Purdue. Worth noting that PSU has returned to the Top 25 though, PSU wins.
• Northwestern at #6 Ohio State at 3:30 on ESPN–Another massive favorite worth noting, OSU returns home after the upset in Happy Valley. Not sure if they can cover the 27-point spread but I may be saying that out of recency bias. OSU wins.
• #8 Baylor at Texas at 3:30 on ABC–Baylor is only getting 3.5 points and that may be the public pulling the line towards a home Texas squad. Texas is no longer back, though. Baylor wins.
• #14 Florida vs. Georgia at 3:30 on CBS from EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville–The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, something I’d like to attend one day. Georgia’s season isn’t exactly where we may have thought it would be at the start of the season. Florida is in the driver’s seat in the SEC East. I smell an upset, UGA wins.
• #7 Nebraska at #11 Wisconsin at 7:00 on ESPN–Nebraska is up two games on Wisconsin for the Big Ten West lead. The Badgers want to chip away at that. UW has played both Michigan and Ohio State close this year and should have the skills to knock off the Huskers. Wisconsin wins.
• #15 Auburn at Ole Miss at 7:15 on SEC Net–The Tigers are 4.5 point road favorites in this SEC West showdown. Auburn’s Kamryn Pettway will need a big game for the Tigers. Auburn wins.
• #3 Clemson at #12 Florida State at 8:00 on ABC–Similarly to Wisconsin, Florida State needs to win this game to cut Clemson’s division lead to one game. Unlike Wisconsin, Florida State is playing a team that may have struggled in the beginning of the season but is chugging along now. Clemson wins.

Lehigh returns home to face Patriot Leauge powerhouse Fordham. The Rams have been a contender for the league title in almost every season they have been in the Patriot League and this year is no different. Fordham and League have several similar opponents Yale, Penn, Monmouth, and PL-foe Georgetown. Fordham fell to Monmouth as well, but in overtime. However aside from Penn, Lehigh has allowed fewer points to those school than Fordham did and Lehigh scored more points on all of them. Today will certainly be a struggle but I have confidence in our Mountain Hawks. LET’S GO LEHIGH!!!

Disagree with my picks? Did I miss a matchup you wanted me to talk about? Let me know in the comments!

(cover photo via)